Slave auction gives Vikings a bad name, museum told

Shetland islanders celebrate the influence of the Vikings during the annual Up Helly Aa festival in LerwickAndy Buchanan/AFP/Getty

A woman has complained to police after being caught in a net by five Viking characters at a museum re-enactment and sold at a “slave auction” while being restrained by an iron collar.

The incident in southern Sweden has drawn criticism from a group promoting women in such historical displays, who said that it gave Vikings a bad name.

The Nordic International Slave Trade Company, which put on the show, defended its Vikings, saying that it had received fewer than a dozen complaints from female victims in 11 years of role-play slave auctions at museums and events around the country.

The victim, who works with disabled people, told police that while visiting Foteviken Museum in Höllviken with patients she was seized by five men and…